New Jersey gubernatorial hopefuls Jack Ciattarelli and Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ) faced off in the final debate of this campaign cycle, featuring personal attacks from Rep. Sherrill, who repeatedly called Ciattarelli a killer, while Ciattarelli focused on Rep. Sherrill’s questionable investment record and posthumous personal attacks against Charlie Kirk.
At one point in the debate, hosted by the local affiliate ABC 7, Ciattarelli whistled and mumbled to himself, “desperate!”
Moderator Bill Ritter, a local news anchor, attempted to pose questions about a variety of local issues of high concern to New Jersey residents, including the barely functional state of New Jersey transit and the dilapidated public education system after eight years of radical leftist Massachusetts native Gov. Phil Murphy. While the candidates presented differing viewpoints on local issues, the debate reached its most tense state during discussions about the candidates’ personal records. At one point, Rep. Sherrill was asked her stance about leftist political violence in the country, which she claimed to oppose – opening the door for Ciattarelli to note that Rep. Sherrill disparaged Turning Point founder Charlie Kirk in the immediate aftermath of his assassination in September.
Rep. Sherrill voted in September to pass a bill condemning Kirk’s assassination, but followed it up with a statement in which she falsely claimed Kirk “was advocating for a Christian nationalist government and to roll back the rights of women and Black [sic] people.”
“She’s missed 9o percent of the votes in Washington,” Ciattarelli noted, but “skipped out of two very important joint appearances in New Jersey to get to Washington, DC, to vote yes on the Charlie Kirk resolution celebrating his life.”
“I applaud her yes on that vote. When she came back to New Jersey and caught hell from the left, she issued a statement condemning Charlie Kirk, calling him a misogynist and a racist,” he continued. “The two things are inconsistent to me. The way to tamp down the hateful rhetoric is by having the right kind of leadership in place.”
The Republican candidate vowed that he would avoid violent and incendiary rhetoric if elected, noting, “I’ve always conducted myself in a respectful way even when I disagree with people. I’m never going to tarnish the name my parents gave me and I’m never going to embarrass my four children.”
Sherrill responded by once again attacking Charlie Kirk, falsely claiming that he advocated for the abolition of women’s rights.
Elsewhere in the debate, Rep. Sherrill condemned Ciattarelli for founding and owning medical publishing businesses, claiming that he personally “killed” people by publishing information that allegedly downplayed the dangers of opioids. The company, she claimed, was “working with some of the worst offenders and saying that opioids were safe … publishing their propaganda.”
“First of all, shame on you,” Ciattarelli replied.
“During the Biden administration, she had no problem whatsoever with thousands of people crashing our border each and every day not knowing what impact they had on our communities with regard to the fentanyl crisis, fentanyl abuse, fentanyl distribution, vaccination rates and the like,” Ciattarelli replied, adding that, regarding the claims about his business, “It’s a lie.”
Ciattarelli later taunted Rep. Sherill as she repeated her attack, quipping, “I got to walk at my college graduation.” Rep. Sherrill, revelations indicated in late September, was blocked from walking at her graduation at the United States Naval Academy. The circumstances around that decision are not publicly clear, though reports alleged that Rep. Sherrill had ties to a purported cheating scandal.
Rep. Sherrill replied to that attack by claiming that after Ciattarelli graduated, he “went on to kill tens of thousands of people in New Jersey, including children.”
In addition to her college circumstances, Ciattarelli also attacked Rep. Sherrill because “she had to pay federal fines for breaking federal law on stock trades and stock reporting … trading defense stocks while serving on the house armed services committee.”
The polling in anticipation of November’s gubernatorial election in New Jersey shows a tight race between the two candidates. Ciattarelli has taken to campaigning in the most reliably Democrat parts of the state, including Hudson, Bergen, and Essex counties, while Democrats nationally have sounded the alarm that Rep. Sherrill is a weak candidate.
“We’re jumping right into this New Jersey race, despite a lot of folks thinking it’s a blue state and we may not need to act,” Janet Murguia, president of the left-leaning UnidosUS Action Fund, told CBS News on Wednesday. CBS noted that the Sherrill campaign, “some Democrats admit, has struggled with her message, which often echoes the playbook former Vice President Kamala Harris employed in her failed 2024 White House campaign.”
“Several Democrats tell CBS News that Sherrill’s campaign has yet to articulate a compelling economic message and has failed to sharpen the focus on ‘kitchen table’ issues like inflation and cost of living,” the report observed.
This is Ciattarelli’s second time running as the Republican nominee for governor of the state. In 2021 he lost, but performed surprisingly well in a state that voted heavily for former President Biden, bringing the race within four percentage points of victory.
The gubernatorial election will be held on November 4, though early voting is currently open.
